Rotary snow plow



Nov. 20, 1956 J. H. JACOBS ROTARY sNow PLOW Filed June ll. 1951 .l Il. llhlllllb M arfzez s Unied States Parent v .ROTARY sNoWvPLowl Joseph H. Jacobs, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Jacobs Wind Electric Company, Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Montana -f This invention relates generally to rotary type snow plows and particularly tota plowy designed for sidewalk and drivewayuse.

It is an object of my invention to.provide a highly eicient rotary type plow constructed to remove crusted, as well as extremely/wet,v snow without clogging and designed to maintain the rotorspeed in synchronized relation to `the forward driving speed of the plow.

. It is another object to provide an easily maneuverable rotary type plow having the weight of the elements thereof equally distributed longitudinally with the forward extremity of the plow mold board or scoop structure disposed in relatively closely spaced relation forwardly of 'the plow driving wheels and shaped to hold the forward portion of the plow inground engaging position. It is a further'object to provide a plow having substantially cylindrical segments forming the forwardly ex- .tending elements of the mold board for delivering the snow rearwardly to a rotortraveling at a relatively slow speed whereby the snow to be removed is scooped or thrown with a shoveling action outwardly through a chute disposed tangentially of the rotor housing, said housing being of a size, to provide spacing therebetween and the blades of said rotor and' being open for a substantial distance downwardly from the upper discharge end of said chute to prevent clogging of the snow therein.

It is another general object to provide a rotary type snow plow which'is'designed to throw the snow with a shoveling action rather than a blower action.

y It is still anotherobject to provide an adjustable'deflector hood at the discharge of the tangential chute to control the angle of discharge therefrom, the deflecting surface of the hood being verticallyl offset from the discharge end of saidl chute to provide a stepped construction and thereby prevent suction of the snow against the discharge surface from retarding the ow ofthe snow outwardly. y v y More specifically, it is an object to provide a rotary type snow plow adapted for use in packed snow conditions as well as in thawing conditions to successfully remove the snow and having a pair of forwardly extending scoop elements transversely spaced apart no farther than the diameter of the rotor housing disposed immediately therebehind, the discharge sideof said rotor housing being entirely open from a horizontal plane through the rotor axis upwardly to the top discharge end of the chute disposed tangentially of said housing, said housing providing a substantial clearance between the rotor blades and the adjacent portions thereof to prevent clogging during the snow removal operation and to permit a relatively slow moving rotor to throw the snow outwardly from the discharge of said chute.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same at similar parts throughout the several views and in which;

Patented`- Nav.` 210,', 195s Fig. l is` a front perspectiveview of my improved rotary plow; l ,l .v

Fig. 2 is a side perspective view thereof;

Fig. 3 is'a top plan view of my plow; and,v

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section'taken substantially along the line 4-14 of Fig. 3. v i.

As illustrated in the accompanying drawings, I` provide a rotary type kplow having a supportingstructure', such as the 'framefstrufcture 8, having a motor sueltas the gas engine 9 mounted on the rear portion thereof.l 'A' rotor housing 10` is mounted in` fixed relation on the'lforward portion of the frarnelstructure'S andhas a rotor v. 10 mounted therein for rotation. on a"l 10rizontallyl longitudinally disposed central shaft llpwhichjis' driven by the gas engine 9 through a suitable transmission unit 12 and clutch mechanism 1.3.l This transmission and clutch are of conventional design andare similar to the clutch and transmission described lin the ,co-pending, application of myself and M. L; Jacobs entitled, Power Saw-Automatic Type, Serial No. 95,332, filed May 257,194.9, now Patent No. 2,691,392. This clutch mechanism 13 is "governor controlled and is responsive yto the speed ofthe'new engine 9 for engagement to drive therotor'shaft 1.1 through the transmission 12. AI suitable throttle control 9a is provided to vary the speed of engine 9. A pair of wheels 14 are xed to a transversely disposed driving axle 15 which is driven by a driving connection with the transmission 12 throughthe clutch'13. Both wheels are sirnul` taneously and uniformlyldriven as bythe integral shaft or axle 15 to permit the operator'tofeasily maintain a straight line Ofvtravel,y and the s'p'eediof thel wheels Vis always directly related to the speed'of'the rotor since'bzolth are being driven through the'ltrarismi'ssion 12.` lA1 pairof gripping handles 16` are xed'to lthe supporting structure 8 and serve to control lthe direction of movement yof `the plow. l f l A mold board and rotor housing '17 is lixed at the front of said frame structure withthe rear thereof disposed in closely spaced relation 'to the front ofthewheels-14 to minimize the distance forwardly of saidQwhels'which said mold boardstructure extends. The lower porton'of said mold boardv 17 is cylindrical'in shape to yform ahousing for'the rotor-10 and-a lpaino'f scoop elements 18kt and 18b extend directly forwardlyand are actually l segments of an extension of the housing cylinder-withthe lower central portion thereof cut away. The upper por tion of the housing is tangentially disposedrelative'to ythe cylindrical lower portion and'forms a discharge 'chute l19 having a depending front skirtl or ilangell). In the form shown, a snow confining member '21 is tangentially disposed relative to the outer scoop ISbf-andextendsup'i wardly along the discharge chute 19 in forwardly extending relation from the upper edge oftheilange 20'.

The rear housing closure isr xedacro'ss thelrear of the lower cylindrical portion thereof aswell as .extending upwardly to interconnect with the` rear edge of the tangential ychute 19. The central portion'thereof is ofcourse apertured to receive the drive shaft -11therethrough.. The rotor 10 has a rear'rotary discmeniber '10a `ixedfto shaft 11 and has :afpluralit-y ofspacedsnowishov'eling 'or throwing blades 10b radially disposed around the outer portion thereof. The forward edge portions of said blades are bent slightly to vforrn snow confining flanges which urge the snow carried thereby rearwardly into engagement with the rotor blade 10a. A disintegrator 22 is fixed to the forward end of shaft 11 and in the form shown has a pair of arms 22a having the leading edges thereof sharpened and the outer ends thereof disposed slightly rearwardly of the central portion thereof to produce a rearwardly sloping front surface.

The discharge deecting hood 23 is pivotally mounted at the discharge end of tangential chute 19 and the top deector plate thereof is disposed in upwardly offset relation to the top tangentially disposed guiding plate of chute 19 to form a step at lthe end thereof and thereby break any suction that might develop between the engaged tangential surface and the'wet snow. An upstanding baffle 19a is formed at the end of the chute 19 to prevent back ow of soft uffysnow and the top of the hood 23 is curved downwardly to combine with said baffle to form a substantial air lock therewith. A crank handle 24 selectively held in adjusted position by a locking segment 25 is provided to turn oscillating shaft 26 which in turn is xed to the head 23 to permit easy shifting thereof and vary the angle of discharge of snow therefrom.

My snow plow is extremely easy to operate and guide when plowing therewith. There are several factors which contribute to this ease of operation; First, the uniform driving of both wheels resists any turning force produced by any sudden obstructionwhich may engage the plow scoops 18a or 18b tending to swing the machine to one side or the other; Secondly, the close longitudinal association between the front ends of the scoops 18a and 18b and the wheels 14 minimizes the turning leverage produced by striking any such obstruction; Third, by extendingsaid scoops directly forwardly of the side extremities of the rotor housing and not flaring the same outwardly, considerably less turning leverage is produced by any such obstruction; and Fourth, when extremely diicult plowing conditions arise and the resistance to rotation of rotor slows down the engine 9, the driving speed of the power transmitted to the wheels 14 will be similarly reduced to prevent increasing of the resistance applied to the rotor 10 and thus clogging the same.

The clogging of wet snow and crusted snow in the rotor and housing of the machine is substantially eliminated by the forwardly disposed disintegrating blade 22 and the wide open discharge area disposed below the tangentially disposed guiding plate of chute 19, as well as the clearance provided between the front edges of the blades 10b and the front depending ange 20 of the chute 19. An extremely important feature of my machine is the shoveling action of the relatively low speed rotor blades which engage the snow and throw the same outwardly through the chute 19 rather than blowing said snow through the chute. Surprisingly less clogging is produced by operating the rotor at a low speed than at an extremely high speed. I have found that the optimum speed for operating under heavy snow conditions is between 300 and 400 R, P. M.s. This of course permits the spaced relation to be maintained between the blades and the housing since no great volume of air is blown by the rotor 10 and there is no need for a closely associated rotor housing as is required in most snow blowers. The substantially radially disposed blades with their bent forward marginal edge portions receive the snow from the forwardly extending scoops 18a and 18b and discharge the same in a succession of relatively large masses with a throwing or shoveling action. This could not be done with a high speed blower and materially reduces the clogging in wet snow conditions.

It will be seen that I have provided a highly eflicient rotary type snow plow which is extremely easy to handle and operate and in whichthe rotor and housing are particularly designed to prevent clogging during diicult and heavy operating conditions. It should be noted that the scoops 18a and 18b engage the snow and tend to hold the bottom of the mold board in engagement therewith and prevent any lifting of the front end even though the motor 9 disposed behind the wheel axle 15 counterbalances the weight of the rotor and mold board disposed in front of said wheel.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

A rotary type snow plow particularly designed for hand guided operation, said plow comprising a support structure, a rotor housing having a generally segmental cylindrical lower portion terminating on one side in a free edge portion and having an upwardly inclined discharge portion disposed substantially tangentially to the other side of the lower housing portion, a bladed rotor journaled on a horizontal axis for rotation within said housing with the blades thereof traveling in a path disposed in closely spaced relation to the cylindrical por tion of the housing and rotating in a direction to travel downwardly from said free housing edge and upwardly with respect to said tangentially disposed discharge portion, said free housing edge portion being disposed at least as low as a horizontal plane through the axis of said rotor so that all of the snow discharged by said rotor will pass freely out of said housing laterally thereof, a pair of lower forwardly extending segmental scoop elements having the rear portions thereof connected in fixed relation to the lower cylindrical housing portion and having their lateral extremities spaced apart only a dis- 4tance equal to the diameter of the lower cylindrical housing portion, said lateral extremities extending downwardly into the same horizontal plane as the bottom of said housing to form a scraping edge adjacent the ground surface extending the full width of the housing, the inner edges of said scoop element converging rearwardly so that the lowered curved portions thereof hold down the housing to maintain engagement with the ground surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 391,904 Leslie Oct. 30, 1888 1,703,786 Sicard Feb. 26, 1,929 1,719,323 Edwards July 2, 1929 2,055,794 Hewitt Sept. 29, 1936 2,075,580 Jeswine Mar. 30, 1937 2,118,851 McCallum May 31, 1938 2,143,699 Jensen Jan. 10, 1939 2,152,840 Drake Apr. 4, 1939 2,171,056 Clay Aug. 29, 1939 2,281,289 Hewitt Apr. 28, 1942 2,315,007 Morse et al. Mar. 30, 1943 2,536,166 Garland Jan. 2, 1951 2,650,439 Hickman Sept. 1, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 64,140 Norway Nov. l0, 1941 

